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Sunday, 1 December 2013

Sinterklaas!!

Fine tune your best singing voices, get your shoes polished and by the fire place and cross your fingers you're on the good list!!

It's that time of year again! Sint and his Zwarte Pieten arrived a few weeks ago and are getting ready to visit the chimney's of all the good children of the Netherlands (and Belguim, Luxembourg and many other places like Suriname and Indonesia).

Sinterklaas is the Dutch equivalent of Santa, who travels to Holland from Spain, via boat, mid November and rides his white horse around the streets of the Netherlands, greeting the citizens with all kinds of tasty treats! He then rests in a nearby castle, while children across the Low Lands sing their festive songs, with their clogs and shoes by the fire place. Come the 5th of December, if you've been a nice person of course, you will awake to find small treasures inside your shoes!

Some people even leave straw and carrots for Sinterklaas's horse!! (Much like we do for Father Christmas's reindeer).

The wonderful Etsy have showcased some gorgeous festive lovelies, ideal for celebrating this delightful Dutch tradition in style!

I only just learned about Sinterklaas a few years ago from a Dutch colleague, I think it's brilliant how every country has slightly different versions, and the thought of him arriving by boat from Spain just cracks me up for some reason!